Senate Backs Tough Coastal Plan, 38-0

TALLAHASSEE — The Senate Tuesday approved a bill that would take the harshest steps ever to prevent Florida`s coastline from becoming an unbroken wall of development.

The 38-0 vote sets up an immediate challenge to the House, which environmentalists accuse of proposing much weaker beach protection standards.

The far-reaching Senate bill (CS/CS/CS for SB 122, 84 & 85) severely limits new construction in undeveloped coastal barrier areas and applies stricter redevelopment standards to urban coastal development. The House plan would give local governments the discretion over what should be built on the beach.

``Pristine beaches . . . will stay undeveloped,`` said Sen. George Stuart, D-Orlando, of his bill. ``Developed (beach) areas will have better and stronger construction.``

For the first time, the beaches that made Florida famous would be singled out for special protection. But the Senate`s get-tough signal virtually guarantees a showdown with the House, where watered-down versions of beachfront protections are part of a huge growth-management package. That package probably won`t be voted on by the House until next week. After that, the two chambers are expected to go into a joint conference committee to sort out their differences.

The contrast between the proposals ``is like night and day, and it`s indicative of what`s going to be increasingly a pattern,`` said Audubon Society lobbyist Charles Lee. ``The most favorable environmental legislation is coming out of the Senate, and developers are attempting to use the conservative mood in the House to stop (it).``

Lee said Gov. Bob Graham holds the power to tip the balance either way on this issue, adding: ``I think if we`re going to succeed, he`ll have to get more prominent in the picture.``

The Senate bill ``will make a difference in those unpopulated areas where those future Miami Beaches and Daytona Beaches now sit,`` Stuart has said.

The bill`s impact is more wide-ranging than first thought, and urban areas also will be affected. All new construction would be banned seaward of the seasonal high-water line evident over 30 years. And statewide, stricter coastal building codes -- plus stricter setbacks from the water`s edge -- would take effect. This would apply to any new development, as well as rebuilding, after a disaster.

Another key aspect of the bill eliminates loopholes in establishing ``coastal construction control lines.`` Dade and Broward counties are among a handful of counties that already have such lines; Palm Beach County has much less restrictive setback rule.

Currently, state law allows a delay between setting a coastal construction line and implementing it. During the delay, ``some property owners go to the beach and dig a hole about six inches across and put a few pilings in that hole,`` said Stuart. That is enough for this ``development`` to be grandfathered in under the old rule, he said. The bill would eliminate the delay.

The Senate`s prime area of conflict with the House, however, is over how far to go to protect pristine coastal barrier areas.

The Senate plan calls for no local and state funding of new roads, bridges, water and sewer projects in these areas, with some exceptions.

The House measure would not single out coastal barrier areas for intensive protection, but would define a much broader ``coastal building zone`` along the entire Florida coast. In this zone, state spending for infrastructure projects would be forbidden -- but only if it is inconsistent with comprehensive coastal plans developed by counties and cities. In other words, local government would have more power to do what it wants with coastal development.

Meanwhile, a Senate provision requiring seaside municipalities and counties to develop comprehensive coastal plans was struck from the bill, but Stuart promised it will be taken up later as part of a local planning act.

Finally, the bill allows the use of tourist tax revenues for beach renourishment, maintenance and public access. In Broward and Palm Beach counties, which already impose a tourist tax, an ordinance would have to be passed to permit this new use.

Casey Gluckman, a Sierra Club attorney, said the bill will save lives and dunes. ``Without careful planning, we`ll get the glass-wall effect, where average folks can`t get to the beach. And we`ll get the situation where it`s difficult . . . to get all the people in the coastal barrier areas evacuated in the event of storms. That type of construction is going to kill people.``

HOW COASTAL BILLS DIFFER

The key conflict between the House and Senate approach to coastal preservation is:

The Senate would cut off state or local funding of new bridge, roads, water and sewer projects in fragile coastal barrier areas. Exceptions would be granted for maintenance and completion of existing facilities or for reconstruction, if it is in the interest of public safety, health and welfare, or if it is the result of a bonding or court order.

The House plan would go beyond barrier areas to include anything along Florida`s coast which is 1,500 feet landward of the coastal construction line or 3,000 feet from the mean high-water line. State expenditures for bridges, roads, water and sewer projects in those areas would be forbidden, unless local governments develop coastal plans permitting such construction.